What is it about?
HARKing occurs when researchers check their research results and then add and/or remove hypotheses from their research report on the basis of those results. HARKing is not a single behaviour but rather an umbrella term for several different types of behaviours. This article attempts to answer the question: Are all types of HARKing bad for scientific progress under all conditions?
Featured Image
Why is it important?
HARKing is considered to be problematic for science because it results in hypotheses that are always confirmed and never falsified. Self-admission rates for HARKing “at least once” range from 27% (John et al., 2012) to 58% (Motyl et al., 2017). HARKing has been implicated in the current replication crisis in science.
Perspectives
Check out the open access version of this article on the right in the Resources section.
Prof Mark Rubin
Durham University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: When does HARKing hurt? Identifying when different types of undisclosed post hoc hypothesizing harm scientific progress., Review of General Psychology, December 2017, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/gpr0000128.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
